Lock-in amplifiers

http://www.lockin.de/

Signals and noise

Frequency dependence of noise Low frequency ~ 1 / f
example: temperature (0.1 Hz) , pressure (1 Hz), acoustics (10 -- 100 Hz) example: shot noise, Johnson noise, spontaneous emission noise
log(Vnoise)

Total noise in 10 Hz bandwidth

Signal at DC
1/f noise

High frequency ~ constant = white noise Total noise depends strongly on signal freq
worst at DC, best in white noise region

10 Hz

White noise

Problem -- most signals at DC

Noise amplitude

0.1 1

10 100 1kHz
Signal at 1 kHz

log( f )

1/f noise

log(Vnoise)

log(Vnoise)

1/f noise

White noise

White noise
10 Hz

0.1

10 100 1kHz

log( f )

0.1 1

10 100 1kHz

log( f )

Lock-in amplifiers
Shift signal out to higher frequencies Approach: Modulate signal, but not noise, at high freq
no universal technique -- art example: optical chopper wheel, freq modulation

Detect only at modulation frequency

Noise at all other frequencies averages to zero Use demodulator and low-pass filter

Demodulation / Mixing
Multiply input signal by sine wave Sum and difference freq generated Compare to signal addition -- interference Signal frequency close to reference freq
low freq beat DC for equal freq sine waves DC output level depends on relative phase

Product

Two sine waves

Sum

Signal freq approaches ref freq

Beat frequency approaches DC as signal freq approaches ref freq
Reference Signal freq vs ref freq

1
Mixer outputs

1.05 1.1

1.15
1.2 1.25

Phase sensitive detection

Signal freq matches reference freq Reference = sin(2pft) Signal = sin(2pft + f)
f is signal phase shift

Product = cos(f) - cos(2pft)

DC part Reference wave Signal phase shift f 0 0.2 p 0.4 p 0.6 p 0.8 p

Product waveforms -- signal times reference

Low pass filter

Removes noise Example -- modulate above 1/f noise
noise slow compared to reference freq noise converted to slowly modulated sine wave averages out to zero over 1 cycle

Low pass filter integrates out modulated noise

leaves signal alone

Lock-in amplifier
Mixer Input Buffer Low pass filter Output

Demodulated signal After mixer

After mixer & low pass

Voltage Reference time

Typical LIA low pass filters

For weak signal buried in noise Ideal low pass filter blocks all except signal Approximate ideal filter with cascaded low pass filters
Ideal

6 db/oct

12 db/oct

log gain

18 db/oct

frequency

Phase control
Reference has phase control Can vary from 0 to 360 Arbitrary input signal phase Tune reference phase to give maximum DC output
Mixer Input Output

Reference Phase shift f

Reference options
Option 1 -- Internal reference
best performance stable reference freq
System Signal Lock-in amplifier Mixer

Option 2 -- External reference System generates reference

ex: chopper wheel

Reference

Lock internal ref to system ref

use phase locked loop (PLL) source of name lock-in amplifier
System Signal Lock-in amplifier Mixer

Reference

VCO

PLL

Integrate

Analog mixer
Direct multiplication
accurate not enough dynamic range weak signal buried in noise Multiplying mixer

Switching mixer
big dynamic range but also demodulates harmonics Switching mixer

Harmonic content of square wave

1

1/3 1/5 1/7 1/9

Switching mixer design

Sample switching mixer Back-to-back FETs
example: 1 n-channel & 1 p-channel feed signal to one FET, inverted signal to second FET

Apply square wave to gates

upper FET conducts on positive part of square wave lower FET conducts on negative part Switching mixer circuit n-channel FET
bias source gate n p Signal voltage drain

Signals with harmonic content

Option 1: Use multi-switch mixer
approximate sine wave cancel out first few harmonic signals

Option 2: Filter harmonic content from signal

bandpass filter at input Q > 100 Lock-in amp with input filter

Digital mixers
Digitize input with DAC Multiply in processor Advantages:
Accurate sine wave multiplication No DC drift in low pass filters Digital signal enhancement

Problems:
Need 32 bit DAC for signals buried in noise Cannot digitize 32 bits at 100 kHz rates

Should be excellent for slow servos

Ex: tele-medicine, temperature controllers Digital processing can compensate for certain system time delays ?

Lock-in amps in servos

Lock to resonance peak
Servos only lock to zero Need to turn peak into zero

Take derivative with lock-in

Take derivative of lineshape

modulate x-voltage F(x)-voltage amplitude like derivative

Use lock-in amp to extract amplitude of F(x)

DC part of mixer output filter with integrator, not low-pass

No fundamental only 2 f signal

F(x)

Lock-in amps for derivative

Lock-in turns sine wave signal into DC voltage At peak of resonance
no signal at modulation freq lock-in output crosses zero

Input signal

Discriminant
use to lock

F(x)

Lock-in output (derivative)

Zero crossing at resonance

Effect of modulation on lineshape

Start with resonance lineshape Intensity vs PZT voltage: I = I0 exp( -V2)
I

Modulate voltage: V= V0 sin (2 p f t)

V

Modified lineshape
t

Analog to numerical derivatives Derivative is: I = I(V+ DV) - I(V) / DV

Set DV = 1

Modulation replaces DV= V0 sin (2 p f t) Derivative is sine wave part

Assumes is V0 small

Effect of modulation amplitude

For large modulation amps
Distortion and broadening Modulation amplitude 0.05 linewidth

Modulation like a noise source

Always use minimum necessary

0.1

0.2

0.5 linewidth

2 Expanded scan

Mixer outputs
Maximum mixer output
modulation ~ 1 linewidth saturates and broadens
Modulation amplitude 0.1 linewidth 0.2 0.5 linewidth

1 2

Mixer out 0.1 linewidth 0.2 0.5 1 2

Fabry-Perot servo
Lock to peak transmission of high Q Fabry-Perot etalon Use lock-in amp to give discriminant
No input bandpass -- or low Q < 2
Bandpass rolloff usually 2-pole or greater

No low pass filter -- replace with integrator

Low pass filter removes noise Need noise to produce correction

Design tips
reference freq must exceed servo bandwidth by factor of ~ 10 but PZT bandwidth is servo limiter use PZT resonance for modulation Fabry-Perot

Laser
Acoustic noise

PD

LIA
reference

Sum & HV